The present disclosure relates to image forming apparatuses such as copiers, printers, facsimiles, and multifunction peripheral each having the foregoing functions, and particularly to an image forming apparatus including louvers that direct airflow produced by a fan that cools the inside of an apparatus body.
In general, an image forming apparatus forms an image through the following process. First, the surface of an image carrier, such as a photoconductor drum, is uniformly charged by a charging device. Subsequently, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the image carrier through exposure performed by an exposure device and is visualized into a toner image by a developing device. After the toner image is transferred to a recording medium, a fixing device performs a fixing operation on the toner image. In this process, members such as a power supply board, that supplies power to the fixing device, and other devices included in the apparatus may generate a substantial amount of heat. The heat generated from these devices can increase the temperature inside the apparatus. Such heat may adversely affect image quality and lead to an apparatus failure.
To release the heat generated in the body of the image forming apparatus to the outside, the image forming apparatus may include a fan. For example, the apparatus may include a first louver located at the openable manual feed tray, and a second louver located at the housing on which the manual feed tray is positioned. The second louver faces the manual feed tray that is in a closed state. Furthermore, an exhaust fan is positioned in the housing at a position facing the second louver. Air in the housing is exhausted through the second louver by the exhaust fan. The air that has passed through the second louver is exhausted through the first louver to the outside.
In another example of an image forming apparatus, a first louver is located on an openable cover, and a second louver is located on a side cover. When the openable cover is closed, the first louver faces the second louver and an intake fan located on an apparatus body. Outside air is taken into the apparatus body by the intake fan through the first louver and the second louver and is used for cooling of a fixing device and other members.
In each of the above image forming apparatuses, the first louver and the second louver direct airflow produced by the fan. There is a large gap between the first louver and the second louver. Therefore, air from other places tends to flow into the gap between the first and second louvers. The air flowing from other places acts as a ventilation resistance to the airflow produced by the fan. If the ventilation resistance increases, the cooling effect may be reduced. To increase the cooling effect, the fan may be rotated at a high speed so that the volume of airflow is increased. However, if the fan is rotated at a high speed, problems may arise in that noise, such as the sound of the fan may increase, and the power consumption of the motor, or the like, that rotates the fan may increase. Moreover, in each of the above image forming apparatuses, since rectifier vanes of the first and second louvers extend horizontally, the noise generated by the fan travels straight to the outside of the apparatus body. Accordingly, the noise may grow louder.